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A rare book on hockey history that Prime Minister Stephen Harper asked be restored is being donated to Concordia University.

"Hockey: Canada's Royal Winter Game" is being given to the university's Centre for Canadian Irish Studies by Montrealer Brian Malone on Thursday.

Only three copies of the book are known to exist and Malone inherited his copy from his father who was team doctor for the Trois-Rivieres, Que., Reds in the 1940s and 1950s.

The book was recently restored by Library and Archives Canada at the request of Harper, who is writing his own hockey history book and who recognized the rare book's historical significance.

"Hockey: Canada's Royal Winter Game" was written by Quebec City native Arthur Farrell and published in 1899. Farrell was himself a winner of two Stanley Cups with the Montreal Shamrocks and later inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Farrell's book will eventually be housed in Concordia's archives.

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